Confrontation
by JolinarJackson
Summary: And if Eli wouldn't have kept his silence in Justice? A re-write of the last scene between Eli and Young.


**Confrontation**

_Word Count: _681

_Summary: _And if Eli wouldn't have kept his silence in _Justice_? A re-write of the last scene between Eli and Young.

_Characters: _Eli Wallace, Everett Young

_Rating:_ PG_  
Spoiler: Justice  
Setting:_ The last scene between Young and Eli in _Justice  
__Warnings: _AU_  
Author's Note: _Written for the stargate_las. Prompt _#6: Pick a scene from any episode and re-write that scene to have it happen differently from the show._

_Feedback:_ Can't breathe without it.

_Disclaimer: _I'm not making money with this fanfic. The tv-show _Stargate Universe_ and the characters appearing within it belong to their producers and creators. Any similarities to living or dead persons are purely coincidental and not intended.

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"I want you to make a copy for me," Colonel Young said and Eli stared at the memory stick in the older man's hand. "Put it on this. And then delete it from your hard drive."

Eli wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but he knew that it wasn't good. It was wrong. And even though he'd never had a reason not to trust Young's judgment or his words before, right now, looking into the colonel's eyes, he felt nauseous. Hesitantly, he took the memory stick.

"Okay."

Young nodded slightly and ducked his head, seemingly fighting a raging headache. The wounds looked bad. Cuts and bruises were marring the man's face – testament to a rock slide. Eli wasn't sure if that was true.

Young seemed to have noticed that Eli was still standing there and looked up, questioningly and just a bit impatiently.

"Anything else?"

Eli stared at him, undecided. He closed his fist around the memory stick, the edges cutting into his palm.

"No." He turned away and headed for the door. But then he hesitated, his steps faltering. All the frustration of the last few weeks was catching up with him. All the times he'd felt useless, or Rush had yelled at him or the scientists had dismissed him, all the times the colonel had used him to spy on the people they lived with, or he'd thought of his mom and that, maybe, she was giving up right now because he wasn't there. All the times he'd been the tool when Young and Rush had been fighting.

All the times Young wanted to know what Rush was doing.

All the times Rush had looked at Eli with a flicker of pride because he'd managed to grasp a concept Rush had explained to him.

"Actually, yes," he said and turned back to face Young. The colonel raised his head to look at him curiously. Eli took a steadying breath, then he explained, "What Rush did, was wrong. I didn't believe for one second that you killed Spencer."

"Didn't seem that way," Young muttered.

"Yeah, well," Eli answered. "The evidence … maybe I doubted you for a minute there, but I never really thought that … you would be able to do something like that. And then go and hide the gun in your quarters."

Young shrugged.

"Glad to see that you think I wouldn't be that stupid." He gave a small smile.

Eli forced a painful grin.

"Yeah. You wouldn't be that obvious. You would, I don't know, say that it was a rock slide that killed him."

Young's smile died. Eli swallowed. He felt that small stab in his stomach that reminded him of High School, of backing down instead of enraging the bully further. He hadn't listened to that feeling then, and he wouldn't listen now.

"Even though that's pretty stupid, too, don't you think? Two men who hate each other go to a planet. Only one of them returns. I'm no Sherlock Holmes but-"

"Eli," Young interrupted him, his voice sharp.

Eli's chest felt tight. It was getting hard to breathe.

"You killed him," he said softly.

Young took a deep breath and then said slowly, "No, Eli, I didn't."

Eli shook his head.

"That's a lie." He looked at the memory stick in his hand and then back up at Young. "But it doesn't matter, right? No one would believe me. Not after your innocence has just been proven."

Young just stared at him. Eli nodded and forced a smile.

"I'm gonna go and make that copy."

"You do that," Young answered. Eli turned away and headed for the door. He was reaching for the mechanism to open it when Young said, "Eli ..."

He waited and Young sighed deeply. When he spoke, his voice sounded tired.

"I didn't intend to do it. It just happened."

Eli glanced back at him over his shoulder and nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

END

11/10


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